Majed Sheikh al-Ard

Majed Sheikh al-Ard was a wealthy Syrian businessman from Damascus who inadvertently helped the Israeli spy Eli Cohen infiltrate the Syrian government during the early 1960s. In 1965, he and all of Cohen's known associates were arrested by the Syrian government, and al-Ard committed suicide while serving a life sentence at a Palmyra prison.

Biography
Majed Sheikh al-Ard was born in Damascus, Syria, and he was a successful landowner before marrying a Jewish woman and spending extravagant amounts of money on cars, jewelry, and expensive wine. In 1962, the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency sent Eli Cohen to introduce himself to al-Ard while pretending to be a Syrian-Argentine businessman returning to Syria. They met on a yacht bound for Beirut, Lebanon, where they bonded over a shared love of fine wine and luxury cars; while al-Ard was initially intimidated by Cohen's willingness to openly discuss politics, he later invited him to join him as he drove from Beirut to Damascus, lest the car ride be dull. al-Ard grew suspicious of Cohen when he bribed customs officer Abu Khaldon not to search his belongings, but Cohen addressed al-Ard's concerns by saying that he was afraid that they would find his very explicit pornography collection, causing al-Ard to laugh and be reassured. He later helped Cohen buy an apartment in Damascus and became a shareholder of his company, Thaabet Import-Export, and the two became close friends. In early 1965, however, he was arrested by the Syrian government after Cohen was discovered to have been an Israeli spy, and President Amin al-Hafiz had all of his known associates rounded up. al-Ard was sentenced to life in prison, and he later committed suicide at his prison cell in Palmyra.